Counseling and data analysis tool has served 2.7 million borrowers since its 2011 launch

INDIANAPOLIS — Student Connections℠, a nonprofit affiliate of USA Funds® , has received a patent (US 9,495,704) for its Borrower Connect™ cohort management technology solution. Borrower Connect pools all cohort data in one secure, web-based platform that generates predicative analysis to help colleges and universities reduce federal student loan cohort default rates (CDRs). It also offers a data-driven borrower engagement system that matches communication and loan counseling methods to the unique circumstances of individual student loan borrowers so they can avoid defaulting.

Loan defaults damage student credit, burden students with additional costs that can affect them for many years and can threaten the reputation and finances of colleges and universities. In fiscal year 2016, Student Connections and its college and university partners leveraged Borrower Connect to help nearly 300,000 borrowers resolve an estimated $3.3 billion in past-due student loans. Student Connections success counselors reversed loan delinquencies for 77 percent of the borrowers they counseled and achieved a 95 percent default aversion rate.

“I’m proud of our having created a unique product that has done so much to help borrowers and schools with the complex challenges of successfully managing student loans,” said Craig P. Anderson, president of Student Connections. “Minimizing default and delinquency is critical to ensuring students are able to access the lifetime of opportunities promised by higher education.”

Since dropout rates correlate with default rates, Student Connections also offers borrower engagement services that help institutions proactively improve student outcomes by helping students develop nonacademic skills that increase retention and graduation. Its latest product, Success Center, incorporates new technology dedicated to this initiative and will launch in early 2017.

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